CRUSADER CASTLES OF THE NEAR EAST
later; but the city was won, a government
established, and the Crusader Kingdom of
Jerusalem became a reality.
Godfrey de Bouillon was, of course, the
hero of the siege. The Crusaders wished
to make him king; but, like Raymond of
Toulouse, who was first proposed for this
honor, he is said to have replied, "God for
bid that I should wear a crown of gold
where my Master wore a crown of thorns."
He ruled for a year as a military leader.
and after his death his brother, Baldwin
of Edessa, was crowned first King of
Jerusalem.
Then followed some fifty years of or
ganization, and the erection of castles all
along the seacoast and the boundaries to
protect the frontier.
Besides the Kingdom of Jerusalem, the
Principality of Antioch, and the County of
Edessa, already founded, a fourth division,
the County of Tripoli, lying midway be
tween Jerusalem and Antioch, was estab
lished by Raymond of Toulouse. This
County of Tripoli existed to the end of the
Crusades, and it is in this territory that we
find to-day the largest castles and the best
preserved examples of the military archi
tectural genius of the age. Jubail, Tripoli.
Tartous, Safita, Margab, and the queen
of all, Kalat-el-Husn, or the "Krak des
Chevaliers," are all within the boundaries
of this district (see pages 372-3-4, 381-2).
SALADIN TAKES UP THE PROPHET'S CAUSE
Eighty years after the establishment of
the Kingdom of Jerusalem, there arose the
Moslem hero, Sala-ud-din ibn Ayyub,
or Saladin of our English histories. He
and his immediate predecessors had grad
ually succeeded in uniting the various city
princedoms-Aleppo, Hama, Homs, Baal
bek, and Damascus-together with Egypt.
Once this Syrian Moslem power could
present a united front under such an able
leader as Saladin, the very existence of
the Latin power was threatened. Besides,
there were serious jealousies among the
Western leaders.
At last, in midsummer of the year 1187,
Saladin led his army to the plain west of
the Sea of Galilee. The Crusader army
assembled near the rocky points known as
the Horns of Hattin, pointed out to-day
as the scene of Christ's Sermon on the
Mount. Finally, surrounded on every side,
cut off from all water supply, and suffo-
Drawn by A. I . Bumstead
WHERE THE CRUSADERS BUILT THEIR
CASTLES
After wresting the Holy Sepulcher from the
Mohammedans, the knights of Christendom
erected a remarkable series of strongholds to
insure their control of the Holy Land.
cating in their heavy armor under the fierce
July sun, the European army was com
pletely routed. King, lords, knights, Tem
plars, and Hospitalers were either dead
upon the field or prisoners in Saladin's
tents.
The road to Jerusalem was open and the
Holy City once again came into the hands
of the Moslems. And there it remained.
except during brief intervals, for the next
730 years. At last, in the World War the
English general, Allenby. entered the city,
not riding in pomp, as a conqueror, but on
371